ngorman427
Newbie
Hello everyone, my name is Nicholas, I'm in my early 20's and have had the pleasure of joining many other GMT400 owners as of January of 2018.
Background: I have been working on cars ever since I can remember, from 427 BBC's making 500ish hp and an enormous amount of torque to fully built 2.0 four bangers. From all mechanical and carburated to custom (read self built) wiring harnesses and engine computers. The first car I ever worked on was a '67 Corvette with my father going from SBC to fully built 427 paired with to a 5 speed overdrive (cannot for the life of me remember the manufacturer as that was well over 12 years ago.
*fastforward 6 years*
I am given a seized up '96 Dodge Avenger as my first car with the intent to replace (what I thought were) the crank bearings. NOPE. Exhaust camshaft had welded itself to the aluminum head and scrapped the whole top end.
What better time to rebuild the whole thing than now??
Over the course of a year or two I tear down the old worn out engine to the block and start building it back up. Being limited on my budget as I was 17 years old I did a majority of the work myself, teaching myself everything I could along the way.
Aiming for as much power as possible while being limited to 2 liters of hamsters for an engine took quite some work including;
Self balanced piston + rods + rings to within 1/10th of a gram
Stage 3 Crower cams (248 duration + .410" lift)
Brian Crower valves + springs + retainers
Self ported and polished intake, exhaust, and combustion chamber
JE pistons (11-11.5:1 with decked block + head)
4-2-1 ceramic header
Total Seal rings
Custom build crank scraper, baffle, and windage tray
Self built and tuned Megasquirt MS2 ECU
Self built wire tuck/wiring harness
Rear mount battery relocation
Custom tapered 3"->48mm cold air intake
Ported throttle body
Ford Racing 320cc injectors
etcetera
Motorcycle
etcetera
Long story short (Too late) my project car now spins easily up to 7500 and starts to plateau around 8200-8500 rpm while making a healthy 180-200 horsepower (not too shabby for a non turbo hamster wheel)
I guess what I am trying to say is I am no stranger to hard work or learning on the way.
Following a period of boredom with the project car and motorcycle, I have purchased a 1993 step side c1500 rear wheel drive with the ever so disappointing nv3500 5 speed and a sad 4.3 with a dismal 250k on both.
1st, 2nd, and 3rd are starting to show their age but shift easily when (slowly) eased into gear.
Thank you all for the opportunity to enjoy my hobby and learn along with the rest of you!
Please, if any of you have any questions or comments let me know and hit that reply button
Background: I have been working on cars ever since I can remember, from 427 BBC's making 500ish hp and an enormous amount of torque to fully built 2.0 four bangers. From all mechanical and carburated to custom (read self built) wiring harnesses and engine computers. The first car I ever worked on was a '67 Corvette with my father going from SBC to fully built 427 paired with to a 5 speed overdrive (cannot for the life of me remember the manufacturer as that was well over 12 years ago.
*fastforward 6 years*
I am given a seized up '96 Dodge Avenger as my first car with the intent to replace (what I thought were) the crank bearings. NOPE. Exhaust camshaft had welded itself to the aluminum head and scrapped the whole top end.
What better time to rebuild the whole thing than now??
Over the course of a year or two I tear down the old worn out engine to the block and start building it back up. Being limited on my budget as I was 17 years old I did a majority of the work myself, teaching myself everything I could along the way.
Aiming for as much power as possible while being limited to 2 liters of hamsters for an engine took quite some work including;
Self balanced piston + rods + rings to within 1/10th of a gram
Stage 3 Crower cams (248 duration + .410" lift)
Brian Crower valves + springs + retainers
Self ported and polished intake, exhaust, and combustion chamber
JE pistons (11-11.5:1 with decked block + head)
4-2-1 ceramic header
Total Seal rings
Custom build crank scraper, baffle, and windage tray
Self built and tuned Megasquirt MS2 ECU
Self built wire tuck/wiring harness
Rear mount battery relocation
Custom tapered 3"->48mm cold air intake
Ported throttle body
Ford Racing 320cc injectors
etcetera
Motorcycle
etcetera
Long story short (Too late) my project car now spins easily up to 7500 and starts to plateau around 8200-8500 rpm while making a healthy 180-200 horsepower (not too shabby for a non turbo hamster wheel)
I guess what I am trying to say is I am no stranger to hard work or learning on the way.
Following a period of boredom with the project car and motorcycle, I have purchased a 1993 step side c1500 rear wheel drive with the ever so disappointing nv3500 5 speed and a sad 4.3 with a dismal 250k on both.
1st, 2nd, and 3rd are starting to show their age but shift easily when (slowly) eased into gear.
Thank you all for the opportunity to enjoy my hobby and learn along with the rest of you!
Please, if any of you have any questions or comments let me know and hit that reply button